Durban - THE safety of shoppers at the China City Mall in Springfield is in question after a woman plunged to her death while fleeing protesters on Monday.
Anitha Premdaw fell through perspex on the mall roof. Mount Moriah resident Premdaw, 48, who fell 5m, had recently been employed as a cleaner. She died of her injuries at the scene, while a person with her broke a leg when she also jumped.
When the Sunday Tribune visited the mall on Friday, an employee who asked not to be named, said it was an “accident waiting to happen”. She complained that when it rained, water flooded shops and wet their stock.
“We always dread when there is flooding. This building is very unsafe. With exit points far away on each side of the corridors, how does one get out quickly in a stampede?”
She said the mall was targeted by the unemployed from the neighbouring informal settlement. She said they claimed foreigners were employed instead of locals. She also spoke out about the exploitation of employees.
“We have our own struggles to fight. Employers do not pay us the minimum wage. Our pleas with inspectors have fallen on deaf ears,” she said.
Mary-Jane Neethling, who was shopping for her son’s second birthday, said although she did not feel safe she often went to the mall because it offered discounts on accessories.
“The mall is such a mess, with tiny passages. Perhaps extending it would help,” she said.
Henry Selzer, a lawyer who spoke on behalf of Top Form Trading, the company that owns the mall, dismissed the claims and said the mall had been issued with a certificate of occupancy by the eThekwini Municipality. He said Premdaw’s death had been unfortunate and had affected them emotionally. He said people panicked when they heard a mob was coming.
Attempts to get comment from the municipality as to whether China City Mall met safety standards were not successful. The Department of Labour also did not respond by the time of publication.
The violent protests started before dawn on Monday when a mob ran amok, burning a spaza shop owned by a Pakistani in Kenville, north of Durban, after two people, Sonwabile Dladla, 23, and Kwanele Mkhize, 26, were shot. The protesters apparently tried to loot the shop and the owner allegedly tried to fend them off.
A few hours later, the mob went to China City Mall to demand jobs and complain that foreigners were given preferential treatment.
Dladla’s mother, Thandi, said her unemployed son was fetched by a friend to join the protest, but an hour later she got the message that he had been shot dead.
“I went to the scene, only to find him struggling with his last breath. The bullet had pierced the main artery in the neck. He was bleeding profusely and died before they could get hm to the hospital,” she said.
Both Dladla and Mkhize were buried on Saturday, while Premdaw was cremated on Wednesday.